ht of repudiating
its conclusions. Hayes was already as good as seated. If the States of
Louisiana and South Carolina could save their local autonomy out of the
general wreck there seemed no good reason to forbid.

On the other hand, the Republican leaders were glad of an opportunity to
make an end of the corrupt and tragic farce of Reconstruction; to unload
their party of a dead weight which had been burdensome and was growing
dangerous; mayhap to punish their Southern agents, who had demanded so
much for doctoring the returns and making an exhibit in favor of Hayes.

X

Mr. Tilden accepted the result with equanimity.

"I was at his house," says John Bigelow, "when his exclusion was
announced to him, and also on the fourth of March when Mr. Hayes was
inaugurated, and it was impossible to remark any change in his manner,
except perhaps that he was less absorbed than usual and more interested
in current affairs."

His was an intensely serious mind; and he had come to regard the
presidency as rather a burden to be borne--an opportunity for public
usefulness--involving a life of constant toil and care, than as an
occasion for personal exploitation and rejoicing.

How much of captivation the idea of the presidency may have had for
him when he was first named for the office I cannot say, for he was as
unexultant in the moment of victory as he was unsubdued in the hour of
defeat; but it is certainly true that he gave no sign of disappointment
to any of his friends.

He lived nearly ten years longer, at Greystone, in a noble homestead he
had purchased for himself overlooking the Hudson River, the same ideal
life of the scholar and gentleman that he had passed in Gramercy Park.

Looking back over these untoward and sometimes mystifying events, I have
often asked myself: Was it possible, with the elements what they were,
and he himself what he was, to seat Mr. Tilden in the office to which he
had been elected? The missing ingredient in a character intellectually
and morally great and a personality far from unimpressive, was the touch
of the dramatic discoverable in most of the leaders of men; even in such
leaders as William of Orange and Louis XI; as Cromwell and Washington.

There was nothing spectacular about Mr. Tilden. Not wanting the sense
of humor, he seldom indulged it. In spite of his positiveness of opinion
and amplitude of knowledge he was always courteous and deferential in
debate. He had none of the a